Child labour migrants or victims of labour trafficking? A segmental approach Antonela Arhin I. CANADA was to be the principal direction of emigration because it was the nearest British colony; the journey was short and inexpensive; the weather was admirable and the demand for settlers was insatiable. II. CHARACTER: Only the “flower of the flock” would be emigrated. They should be honest, industrious and capable; taught to revere the Bible as God’s word; free from taint. 1 Between 1869 and the late 1930s, the Child Migration Scheme led to the passage of over 100,000 child migrants from Great Britain to Canada. Children were assembled at Stepney Causeway, the great export emporium, to be tested and inspected for qualification for the ‘Canada List’. Similar to previous attempts to nab vagrant and orphaned children and send them to the colonies to meet the demand for labour, 2 this resettlement programme migrated children from England’s overcrowded urban slums to isolated Canadian landscapes as a source of cheap farm labour and domestic help, and under the premise of providing them with a better life. Instead, scores of children’s narratives speak of hard labour and harsh environments in which they were faced with social marginalization and physical, emotional and sexual abuse. 3 The global prevalence of child trafficking for labour exploitation today is astounding as the children are being matched to specific markets where their gender, age and appearance greatly influence the type of labour they perform. An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked globally every year. 4 The US Department of State’sTrafficking in Persons (TIP) Report for 2011 found the problem of child begging in 61 countries, child soldiers in 15 countries, instances of child sex tourism in 105 countries and trafficking for the purposes of domestic servitude in 110 countries. 5 Children are trafficked for the purposes of illegal adoption; commercial and non-commercial sexual exploitation and labour exploitation in order to work in prostitution; sex tourism; sweatshops; for the purpose of early marriage; or as child soldiers, domestic servants and athletes. The intricate network of those involved includes recruiters, intermediaries, document providers, transporters, travel agencies, corrupt officials, employers and sometimes families and friends. Trafficked children